It's November and I still have zero clue of where to go/what to major in

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So while college app deadlines approach, I've still done zero research in where to go and what to do.</p>

<p>The only kind of compass I have is that I MUST make money, and lots of it. I come from a dirt poor family and am absolutely sick of being poor more than anything, and going up one rung to "lower Middle Class" won't do anything for me, as i view it, i want to be making at least 50k out of college and 80K by the time I'm 30, otherwise i feel like i would have wasted my time going to college in the first place.</p>

<p>To top that off my grades and scores are decent at best, 27 on the ACT, 1730 SAT (1210 CR/Math) and a 3.7 for the first three years, bound to go down with the 87 average I got 1st quarter senior year (With a 77 in Pre-Calc and 78 in Physics :| ). So options are limited.</p>

<p>My path has always been set on Engineering, but after discovering this year that i DESPISE all forms of physics, I figure that since all engineering is essentially just physics (Right?) that i should definitely not major in that field. I also wanted to become a programmer until i figured out I also hate that in actual practice.</p>

<p>As for interests, i love all things that wont bring home that paycheck i want, I love History, Politics, Business and Science. I've always loved hospitals and wanted to work in one, but to my knowledge the only ones who bring home any sort of paycheck there are the Doctors who go to school for 8 years (again, am I wrong?).</p>

<p>The second bit of all of this is that I have no clue where to go, mainly the dilemma between Public or Private. I live in NY so i could go to a SUNY school for dirt cheap but i'm worried about not being able to get hired coming out of a low-ranking public uni system like SUNY (or am i mistaken again?). School location wise I'd rather stay in the North East but anywhere is cool honestly, and I'd rather go to a school with >2000 fellow undergrads.</p>

<p>So does anyone have any suggestions? At this point the procrastination is becoming very detrimental to my chances and it's all starting to really freak me out frankly.</p>

2

<p>Who says business majors don’t make money? My one roommate made $70k fresh out of college selling siding and windows in his first six months. He was VP of sales for a competitor a few years later, way outperforming any of my engineering friends. Our tree guy has a big sail boat at the Seattle Yacht Club.</p>

<p>SUNYs are a great option for you - my wife graduated from one along with many of my friends and family members. She called her roommate just last night, a $350k/year investment lawyer, and neither of them seemed overly concerned they went to a “low-ranking public.”</p>

<p>Also, Undecided is a perfectly acceptable freshman major. No need to decide quite yet. Apply to the SUNYs, work hard and stay hungry.</p>

3

<p>I think you need to reframe your goals. I understand wanting to make money, but if that is your only goal, then you won’t be enjoying your college experience, you probably won’t be broadening your horizons of interest, and you probably won’t end up happy. Most people do not come out of college making $50K a year. Plenty of people do not even come out of college with a set job. </p>

<p>You are mistaken about the SUNY system. Many of the SUNYs are nationally regarded. I know plenty of people who went to SUNY schools and are well-off and happy now. </p>

<p>You are also mistaken about what will “bring home that paycheck.” If you love history, politics, business, and science, then do something with those subjects. You can easily make money with any of those. You can also easily not make money with an engineering degree. Instead of risking being unhappy AND not having money, why don’t you just go for half of it being a sure thing and major in something that interests you? At this point, I would say enter as undecided, take courses that excite you, and pick a major a year or two down the line.</p>

<p>You need to do college research on your own to find what’s good for you. Don’t go into the application process with such a negative view of the colleges you’re applying to. You should probably apply to some SUNY schools and possibly find out if any private schools would give you scholarships or meet all your financial need. If you are “dirt poor” as you say, then you should get a lot of financial aid. </p>

<p>Get rid of your procrastinating and negative attitude. It will not help you make money in the future.</p>

4

<p>Totally agree with the above comments. SUNY is a great public university system as is CUNY, you should look into them. Your scores and attitude are your biggest hindrance right now, 3.7 is not a bad average however. It is good that you’ve discovered your distaste for physics and math before applying to colleges. </p>

<p>I don’t know where in the state you’re from nor do I know your circumstances around being “dirt poor” but both SUNY and CUNY schools know your type of kid and have programs to assist should need be. College could be a big culture shock to you both socially and academically so the more “aware” a college is, the better for you.</p>

<p>Good luck! </p>

5

<p>There’s a big gulf between “dirt poor” and “making $80K by 30.” I come from a working-class family and I’m 28 and make $50K as a postdoctoral fellow. I live in a small town with a relatively low cost of living and I live a very comfortable lifestyle - my personal income alone is the same amount that my dad raised my entire family of five on in my childhood, so even though it’s right at the median household income, my quality of life is drastically different than what my mother’s was like at my age (by which she already had two children and was pregnant with a third). I can afford everything I need and most of the things I want. You don’t need to make close to six figures in order to do that.</p>

<p>The second thing is that your major doesn’t necessarily determine what you do and how much money you make. For example, if you like business and hospitals, why not consider hospital administration and business? The BLS reports that “medical and health service managers” average $88,580 per year. You don’t need a master’s to do this, although many of them do get MBAs or MHAs. If you are interested in healthcare and science, there’s epidemiology as well - the study of the spread of diseases and conditions. Epidemiologists average $65,000+. (You would need a master’s degree, though, and there is some math - although no physics.) There’s also genetic counseling, which is helping families interpret the results of genetic tests - a field that’s going to grow a lot as we understand more about the genome.</p>

<p>A person interested in business and the social sciences might be interested in human resources, human resource managers average $99,270 per year, and similar business operations jobs (administrative service managers, compensation and benefits managers, training and development managers) all average over $80,000 a year. There’s management consulting - these consultants average $78,000 by using strategy and business techniques to improve organizations, and if you go to a top firm you can make way more than that, particularly with an MBA. Economists and financial analysts make over $75K on average. There’s also market research and advertising, which can yield decent salaries too. Political scientists also average $102,000 a year, just FYI, although I would imagine that most of the people labeled “political scientists” by the BLS are PhD holders (but not all professors - half of them work for the federal government).</p>

<p>“Science” is a broad field, but if you don’t like physics but are okay with lots of math, you could be a statistician or computer scientist, too. Mathematicians average $101,000+ a year; statisticians over $75K and computer systems analysts nearly $80K. Operations researchers combine math with business and average $70K+. If you like math and business, another option is actuary - using math to model risk for insurance companies and other corporations - and they average over $93K a year.</p>

<p>I have a couple of friends who went to SUNYs - they are all gainfully employed. Public or private isn’t the question; it’s the question of what you and your family can afford vs. what you desire in a college. If your family is dirt poor but you don’t have the grades and test scores to get into a university/college that meets full need, your best bet might actually be a good SUNY or CUNY college or university.</p>

6

<p>I was a business major and make really good money. Most jobs in the US are in business! You have a leg up if you have a basic business background (understand the fundamentals of accounting, marketing, finance, business law, etc). Strong communication and analysis skills also are very useful. I think you should explore business as a major.</p>

7

<p>A Business Information Systems degree is a good way to make $80k right out of college. A friend just told me of two hires she just made from a state university here in VA. $80k when they finish in May. They are not graduating from UVA of W&M either. </p>

8

<p>What’s your EFC? If it is zero, do you apply through EOP/HEOP?
That would drastically affect the schools you’d qualify for - and the financial aid you’d get.
If you haven’t looked into EOP/HEOP, do so on Monday/ASAP.</p>

9

<p>You should look into SUNY Binghamton- it’s only about 22,000 a year in state and is known as a good school.</p>

10

<p>Try this: go to the financial aid pages of Stony Brook, New Paltz, Syracuse, and Rochester Institute of Technology. Get your parents to provide you with their financial info so you can run the net price calculators on the financial aid pages. </p>

<p>Doing this will approximate for you what two privates and two publics in your state will cost you per year.</p>

<p>The questions about what to major in can wait.</p>